1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to collision avoidance systems, and more particularly to a stand alone sensor system with built in intelligence.
2. Background Information
The roadways are becoming more and more congested with vehicular traffic. As traffic congestion has increased, the number of accidents has also increased. Some of these accidents can be traced to driver inattentiveness or to the failure of the driver to see another vehicle. Many accidents on the road are caused when drivers are changing lanes. The driver is unable to clearly see if another vehicle is either directly in or entering the lane to the right or left side of their vehicle. This is particularly true for large vehicles such as busses, vans, trucks, tractor trailer rigs, motor homes and vehicles towing trailers.
Accidents are also caused when backing a vehicle. The ability to see behind and around a vehicle while backing up is limited and even more limited the larger and less transparent the vehicle being backed up is. Not only is this true for professional drivers such as truck drivers and bus drivers but this is true for nonprofessional individuals driving moving vans, towing recreational items such as boat trailers, ski mobile trailers, storage trailers or driving recreational vehicles such as campers and motor homes. Potential hazards when backing a vehicle include stationary and moving objects, posts, vehicles, pedestrians (in particular children), people on skateboards, roller blades and bicycles that are in or move into the path of the moving vehicle.
Systems for warning drivers of objects external to their vehicle have been around for a long time. Mirrors, and sometimes combinations of mirrors, are being used to reveal locations hidden to the driver's view (i.e. “blind spots”). Mirrors, however, have a deficiency in that the driver can only look in one spot at any one time. If they look behind the vehicle, see that the way is clear, start looking elsewhere and then a vehicle pulls behind them, they won't see it and may back into the vehicle. In addition, mirrors don't work well when changing lanes. If a driver looks at the lane adjacent to the vehicle and sees that the way is clear then starts looking elsewhere and a vehicle pulls along side them, they won't see it and may clip the vehicle while changing lanes. With tractor-trailer rigs, as soon as the rig begins to turn, the mirror that looked down along the side of the vehicle is directed into the side of the trailer and the driver is blinded to activity on that side of his truck. What is needed is a collision avoidance system to alert drivers of vehicles or objects within their path for a variety of applications.
There are also problems with vehicle detection in stationary situations such as work zones. Work zone areas may be along or on roadways or highways. The lanes often narrow in the work zone area and construction workers are working in close proximity to the traffic. Work zones call for the reduction of speed limits. Currently stationary warning signs and individuals signaling the traffic to stop or slow down are not able to adjust for changing conditions within the work zone. For example heavy-duty vehicles, such as dump trucks, entering the roadway at the work zone, often traveling at slow speeds, pose additional hazards. The narrowing of the roadway, the high speed of drivers approaching the roadway, the proximity of construction workers, and the movement of construction vehicles in the vicinity of the work zone present hazardous conditions that often result in accidents and fatalities. What is needed is a warning system that dynamically adjusts the situation.
The current collision avoidance systems are either designed as multiple sensor systems having central intelligence through an on board computer or as single sensors with no built-in intelligence. These systems are inflexible as they are designed to provide detection for a predetermined application and are not situation specific for each user. For example, a bus driver may find that the area under the front wheels is the most dangerous and would like an object detection system for that specific location. A snow plow driver has a need for detection of vehicles approaching too fast from behind. A truck driver requires rear object detection for backing into delivery bays. The current detection systems are not flexible enough to meet all of these needs cost effectively. The current systems are also inflexible for independent truck drivers who own a tractor and transport a variety of customer's trailers. The current detection systems are not interoperable. An individual truck driver having a tractor with one on board computer system is not necessarily able to interface with the collision avoidance system available on each customer's trailer. In addition, many of the trailers are not equipped with any detection devices and the truck driver is left with no collision avoidance capability. What is needed is a flexible object detection system capable of meeting a diversity of drivers needs that provides a common interface for a variety of detection systems.
In addition, most of the current collision avoidance systems are expensive and are not considered cost effective for many trucking companies and independent truckers and are considered cost prohibitive for non-professional drivers. The systems are not flexible enough to allow the user to add or remove sensors as required for their particular application. Additional sensors for many systems cause the whole system to be redesigned at a high cost to the user.